KOREA INSTITUTE OF GEOSCIENCE AND MINERAL RESOURCES

Dr. Pyeong-Koo Lee, President of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources(KIGAM), attended the Korea-Kazakhstan Business Forum held at the Hilton Astana Hotel in Kazakhstan on June 12. Approximately 300 people, including government officials and businesspeople from both Korea and Kazakhstan, attended the forum.

At this forum, KIGAM signed a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SK Ecoplant, the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Construction, and Tau Ken Samruk with the main goal of full-scale exploration of the lithium mine in the Bakeno region in eastern Kazakhstan.

This agreement is significant in that the Kazakh government has formalized its technological cooperation with KIGAM, which has full-cycle technology and execution capabilities for exploration, development, and utilization of mineral resources.

President Lee said, “Kazakhstan’s lithium development is an important opportunity to establish a value chain for a new business model that will not only secure batteries for domestic electric vehicle production over the next 10 years, but also open up new avenues for the supply chain of key minerals.” He added, “We will support Kazakhstan’s technological independence by transferring KIGAM’s excellent mineral processing and refining technologies to Kazakhstan.”

KIGAM is working with resource-rich countries in Asia and Africa as well as domestic companies to form the ‘Technology Cohabitation Committee’ and is striving to build a new critical mineral supply chain centered on Korea through joint research and support for resource-rich countries.